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The University of Toledo provides students with so many opportunities for success, and UT’s annual Day of Giving is a chance for the entire campus community to help students reach their goals by giving to Rocket Forward: You Launch Lives.

Alumni, faculty and staff members, students and friends of the University who support its mission are encouraged to give during this second annual Day of Giving. The fundraising campaign will begin at midnight Tuesday, Oct. 16, and will last until noon Wednesday, Oct. 17.

Every donor and every dollar will make a difference in this 36-hour campaign to raise money for student scholarships, athletic and educational programs, and resources for UT’s academic colleges, among many other areas.

“We encourage Rockets everywhere to join together on Oct. 16 and 17 to give back and have a significant impact on the lives of our students and all that The University of Toledo does to support them,” UT President Sharon L. Gaber said. “Philanthropy is essential to continuing the University’s mission to educate the next generation of leaders. I look forward to the possibilities of the combined efforts of our global, national and local alumni and friends when they support our Day of Giving and keep UT moving forward.”

Participation is an important goal for Day of Giving, which aims to encourage as many people as possible to support the University. Gift matches and gift challenges are ideal options for making a donation because they double the investment and double the impact.

In 2017, an anonymous donor challenged the colleges to compete for Day of Giving participants to support them. The College of Nursing and the College of Arts and Letters led the colleges, garnering the support of 99 and 95 donors, respectively. The colleges also received the additional $5,000 (Nursing) and $4,000 (Arts and Letters) for their progress funds via the donor’s gift.

“Last year was our first Day of Giving and it was a huge success,” said Charlene Gilbert, dean and professor of the College of Arts and Letters. “Our faculty and staff had the second highest number of donors. Their generosity demonstrated their deep belief in the mission of the University and the college. The money raised last year allowed us to provide strategic support to students who were close to graduating and just needed a little financial assistance. The result of that was our ability to graduate a record number of students and contribute to the University’s overall increase in our six-year graduation rate.”

Despite the rain last year on Day of Giving, students, faculty and staff members came out to Centennial Mall for free cupcakes handed out by the president, to hear the UT Rocket Marching Band perform, and to cozy up with some canines at a popular dog-petting station. Multiple activities are planned for Oct. 16 to celebrate the day and raise awareness of the opportunity to give.

For early risers, the Student Recreation Center will offer a Rise and Shine cycling class at 6:15 a.m. Oct. 16. With a $5 donation to Rocket Forward: You Launch Lives, you can attend the class, which also will be open to non-members of the center.

The UT community is invited to Centennial Mall from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 16 when WXUT FM 88.3 will provide popular music entertainment. Student-run organizations will offer booths featuring carnival-style games. Participants can donate dollars for game tickets, and donations may be made with cash, credit cards and Rocket dollars. Dog-petting will return to this year’s Day of Giving Centennial Mall event, and for a $1 donation you can pet a pup. Foodies can get their fill by visiting three food trucks that will be on the scene: Koral Hamburg, The Leaf and Seed, and Holey Toledough Handcrafted Doughnuts.

On Health Science Campus, giving stations will be located in the Collier Building and the Four Seasons Bistro inside UT Medical Center. The College of Nursing will host activities, as well.

“Recent news from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases that 900,000 people were hospitalized and 80,000 died from the flu in the U.S. last season represents a dramatic increase from past years,” Dr. Susan Batten, UT associate professor of nursing, said. “The loss of life from communicable disease is always tragic; however, there are hidden costs as well.

“Health-care professionals who get influenza will miss work or worse yet try to provide care while ill. Students and teachers will be absent from school, and parents will need to juggle family and work responsibilities in order to stay home with sick children.”

UT students, staff and faculty can minimize the risk for getting seasonal flu by practicing good handwashing and by getting a flu shot, Batten said.

“The vaccine contains four strains of virus A and B lineage; each dose contains only non-infectious viruses, so it does not cause influenza,” she said. “The single-dose vaccine that is provided does not contain mercury-based preservatives. Regular-dose, high-dose for those 65 and older, and egg-free vaccines are available.”

The University provides free influenza immunization for students and employees. Walk-in clinics will be held on Health Science and Main campuses in October and November. Nurses and nursing students will administer the vaccines.

UT Medical Center faculty, staff, students and volunteers not granted a waiver for medical or religious reasons are required to receive an influenza vaccination. Prior to their vaccination, employees must fill out a consent form, which is available at influenza.utoledo.edu. Those who have received flu shots elsewhere also may upload documentation of their vaccination at the same website. Proof of immunization must be received by Dec. 1.

Main Campus students and employees can save time and register at influenza.utoledo.edu before going to a clinic.

Every day, approximately 130 people die from opioid overdose, and nationally 11.4 million misuse prescription opioids — nearly as large a population as the state of Ohio. Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of accidental death for Americans younger than age 50.

Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker Elaine McMillion Sheldon focused on this crisis gripping her home state of West Virginia, the broader Rust Belt, and much of the nation.

Sheldon

Sheldon, an Academy Award-nominated filmmaker and director of the Netflix original documentary “Heroin(e),” will speak at the next Jesup Scott Honors College Distinguished Lecture Thursday, Oct. 4, at 6 p.m. in Collier Building Room 1000 on Health Science Campus.

Attendees will see a screening of her debut feature documentary, “Recovery Boys,” which documents the lives of four men working to transform themselves after years of addiction. A Q&A session and dessert reception will follow.

“The number of people we lose to opioid overdoses daily tragically could not fit into most lecture halls on this campus,” said Dr. Heidi Appel, dean of the Jesup Scott Honors College. “Sheldon’s powerful message in the film is that despite all of the suffering reflected in this statistic, we can find hope.”

Not succumbing to sobering statistics representing all too familiar stories of grief and loss, the film is optimistic. The documentary’s path for these men runs through shattered relationships and strained sobrieties, but also new communities and the promises of lives better led. Their rehabilitation is facilitated by Jacob’s Ladder, a rural West Virginia farmstead that promotes healing through mindful living and the natural rhythm of farm work.

“Whether you’re a fan of documentaries, in the health professions, have had your life touched by the opioid crisis, or just want to meet an amazing young filmmaker out to change the world, you’ll want to join us for this event,” Appel said.

While on campus, Sheldon also will screen portions of “Heroin(e)” Friday, Oct. 5, at 8 a.m. in Rocket Hall Room 1520.

At this second free, public event called “Coping With the Toll of Responding to Opioid Overdoses,” Sheldon will participate in a discussion led by Dr. John Lewton, trauma intervention counselor and owner of Workplace Resources, and Dr. Cheryl McCullumsmith, UT professor and chair of psychiatry. The trio will talk about strategies and resources to promote the well-being of front-line responders and clinicians.

For more information about the Oct. 5 event, contact Betsy Martin in the College of Nursing at betsy.martin@utoledo.edu or 419.530.5888.

The University of Toledo is partnering with Bowling Green State University’s Optimal Aging Institute, the Wood County Committee on Aging and the Area Office on Aging of Northwestern Ohio to hold a town hall discussion on how the opioid crisis is affecting older adults and what the community can do to help.

The program, called Opioid Misuse and Addiction Among Older Adults, will be held Friday, Oct. 5, from 7:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Penta Career Center in Perrysburg.

Among the scheduled speakers will be Lance Robertson, assistant secretary for aging at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Opioid abuse is often seen as a problem that only affects young adults, but experts say misuse among older Americans is a real and rapidly growing concern.

“We don’t think of it as much in older adult populations, and it’s probably not as prevalent, but it certainly is a problem that exists and needs to be addressed,” said Dr. Victoria Steiner, associate professor in the UT School of Population Health and assistant director of the Center for Successful Aging.

Overdose incidents among older Americans are rising sharply. Earlier this year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the number of emergency room visits for suspected opioid overdoses among those aged 35 to 54 increased by 37 percent. Among those 55 or older, ER visits were up by 32 percent. More than 44 percent of overdose deaths in 2016 occurred in those 45 and older, the CDC reported.

Beyond overdoses, there are other unique concerns related to prescription opioid use in older populations.

“Even if they’re not addicted, opioids can cause problems with breathing, with confusion and with falls in older adults,” Steiner said. “There’s also a risk that somebody else in the family could be diverting their medications.”

Topics to be addressed at the seminar include warning signs that older adults may be suffering from opioid addiction; examples of situations that increase the risk for abuse or addiction; evidence-based pain management in the era of the opioid crisis; and public policy and resources for health-care professionals who work with older adults and their families.

“Older adults are interfacing with so many different health-care professionals and our hope with this Oct. 5 presentation is to bring in all these providers so they receive the same prevention education messages and recognize the importance of assessing opioid use and misuse,” said Dr. Nancy Orel, executive director of research at BGSU’s Optimal Aging Institute and interim chair of the Department of Human Services.

To register for the free, public event, call the Wood County Committee on Aging at 419.353.5661 or email oai@bgsu.edu. The event does not offer continuing medical education credits.

Faculty members at The University of Toledo were awarded $1.3 million in federal grants for projects related to opioid abuse, mental health, cancer and antimicrobial technology.

“The University of Toledo continues to advance its strong research base, this time in the two critical areas of innovative drug targets for cancer risk and also to public health and opioid crisis education,” said Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur. “The University of Toledo’s leadership in pioneering treatments and therapies for everything from heart disease to detecting a substance-use relapse has earned it the attention of granting agencies. Securing competitive federal awards is no easy task. Congratulations to UT for identifying and competing in very competitive space.”

Dr. Cheryl McCullumsmith, professor and chair of the UT Department of Psychiatry, was awarded a three-year, $449,076 grant from the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment to expand education about opioid use disorder across all disciplines within UT’s College of Medicine and Life Sciences.

“The College of Medicine and Life Sciences will equip all medical students with the knowledge and the skills they need to appropriately manage opioid treatment and confidently identify opioid use disorders, regardless of their planned specialty. We are training a generation of family medicine doctors, surgeons and internists to actively prevent and treat opioid use disorders,” McCullumsmith said.

Dr. Linda Lewandowski, dean of the UT College of Nursing and co-chair of the UT Opioid Task Force, was awarded a three-year, $371,723 grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration for an interdisciplinary public health project that will provide evidenced-based mental health awareness training to UT students, faculty and staff, as well as the wider northwest Ohio community.

The training includes appropriate responses, materials on available community resources, and information about the unique mental health needs of active-duty military and veterans. The program is built with a specific emphasis on issues related to the opioid epidemic.

“With one in five Americans experiencing mental health problems in a given year, it is more likely that an individual will come across someone having an emotional or mental health crisis than someone having a heart attack. By providing ‘mental health first aid,’ we will empower our students, faculty and community to recognize mental health and substance abuse problems and respond appropriately. This type of training is especially important during this time of the pervasive opioid crisis affecting our state and the nation,” Lewandowski said.

Dr. Maria Diakonova, professor in the UT Department of Biological Sciences, was awarded a three-year, $449,667 grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to focus on a protein called JAK2 as she works to identify new drug targets to reduce the risk of cancer.

“Our goal is to explain the JAK2-mediated intracellular pathways and have a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in cell proliferation, or cell division, which could provide insight into future therapeutic approaches to cancer,” Diakonova said.

Dr. Terry Bigioni, professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, was awarded a $50,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to research broad-spectrum antimicrobial coatings for garments and textiles. Antimicrobial treatments are already used in medicine as anti-infective treatments and in garments and textiles for odor control. This technology could bring odor control to a wider range of products and reduce the need to launder many garments, improving garment lifespan and reducing their environmental impacts.

“We think our antimicrobial technology could bring a lot of added value to the garment and medical industries and create new manufacturing jobs right here in northwestern Ohio,” Bigioni said.

The University of Toledo College of Nursing and ProMedica today announced an expanded partnership to bolster nursing education and address current and future health-care industry challenges.

The planned partnership between the UT College of Nursing and ProMedica will focus on enhancing undergraduate and graduate nursing education and high-quality care while developing a clinical nursing workforce to help meet current and future health-care needs in ProMedica’s local, regional and national service areas. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the United States is expecting 1.2 million job position vacancies for registered nurses by 2020.

The UT College of Nursing provides nursing education programs responsive to the changing needs of students and the health-care environment. UT’s nationally ranked master’s and Doctor of Nursing Practice Program include a range of specialties, including adult gerontology primary care, pediatrics and psychiatric mental health. UT’s Post-Baccalaureate Doctor of Nursing Practice Program was the first such program in the state to take nurses to the highest level of clinical practice and position them as leaders in the health-care field.

Through this partnership, ProMedica and UT will collaborate to develop innovative educational programs, diverse clinical experiences for students, interprofessional research collaborations and high-quality professional development programs to improve health care in our community.

Additionally, the partnership will work to advance the nursing profession and health care by supporting the development of local, state and national policies.

“Our expanded partnership with The University of Toledo College of Nursing is a natural extension of the academic affiliation between ProMedica and The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences, and it reflects our shared commitment to developing northwest Ohio into a premier hub of medical education and clinical care,” said Randy Oostra, president and CEO of ProMedica. “This is an especially exciting time to take this partnership to the next level given our recent addition of HCR ManorCare, and the increased opportunities to educate and better prepare nurses to meet the needs of the growing senior population.”

“Strengthening the University’s partnership with ProMedica provides exciting opportunities to expand clinical training opportunities for our nursing students and to increase academic-clinical collaboration to advance nursing education, research and practice,” said Dr. Sharon L. Gaber, president of The University of Toledo. “We are proud to build on our existing Academic Affiliation to continue to advance our region as an innovative leader in education and health-care delivery. As part of this new partnership with the College of Nursing, research will be enhanced and the College of Medicine and Life Sciences, through the Academic Affiliation, is committing $1 million to collaborative research between the colleges.”

The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences will recognize first-year medical students during its official white coat ceremony Thursday, Aug. 2, at 10 a.m. in Nitschke Auditorium.

The ceremony, held during the week of orientation, welcomes medical students to the college and prepares them for undertaking a medical career. Highlights of the event include a welcome from the dean of the college, a keynote address on humanism in medicine, and the presentation of white coats and recitation of the Medical Student Pledge of Ethics.

Dr. Christopher Cooper, executive vice president of clinical affairs and dean of the College of Medicine and Life Sciences, will officiate the ceremony in which 175 medical students will receive their white coats.

“This ceremony underscores the foundation of the medical profession for first-year medical students,” Cooper said. “The white coat serves as a symbol of their entry into medical school. Secondly, it reiterates their commitment to professionalism, continuing education, and their service to others through medical care.”

Nearly 75 percent of the new students are Ohio residents, and more than 30 percent are from northwest Ohio.

In addition, nearly 10 percent of the class studied at UT: A quarter of the incoming students have master’s degrees half of which are from the University.

The annual ceremony will conclude orientation week for the medical students. The event can be watch live here.

In addition to College of Medicine and Life Sciences, the UT College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences holds a white coat ceremony for third-year PharmD students, and the UT College of Health and Human Services presents white coats to first-year physical therapy and occupational therapy doctoral students and respiratory care students in their junior year, which is the first year of their professional program. And the College of Nursing has a white coat ceremony for students in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Program and the Clinical Nursing Leader Program.

In order to meet the demand for more nurses in the region and across the country, The University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University will pursue independent nursing programs to educate additional health-care providers.

UT and BGSU currently partner in a joint nursing consortium. Moving forward with independent programs will provide opportunities for both universities to focus on separate strategies to educate and grow the supply of nurses, which is critical to meeting the future health-care needs of the region.

All current BGSU nursing students and new students beginning their studies in fall 2018 will continue with the consortium program through graduation and will not be impacted by the change.

Under the existing agreement, about 50 BGSU pre-nursing students annually go on to complete their required nursing coursework and clinicals through the UT College of Nursing after two years of pre-nursing studies at Bowling Green. While the students take their classes at UT during their junior and senior years, they remain BGSU students and are awarded their bachelor’s degree by BGSU.

“Health care is a rapidly changing industry, and universities need to continue to adapt to the changing environment in order to provide the best education for future health-care providers,” UT President Sharon L. Gaber said. “The nursing profession is more critical than ever, and this new organizational structure will allow both UT and BGSU to grow our programs to better meet the need for more high-quality nurses in Ohio and beyond.”

The demand for nurses in Ohio and across the nation far exceeds the current supply. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, registered nursing is among the top occupations in terms of job growth through 2024. The nursing workforce is expected to grow by 16 percent to 3.2 million by 2024 with more than one million job openings for nurses due to growth and replacements.

“We agree that the time is right to pursue new partnerships,” BGSU President Rodney Rogers said. “We recognize that there is growing demand for nurses throughout northwest Ohio. This provides both universities the opportunity to grow their respective programs.”

UT and BGSU continue to be strong partners. Last year the universities announced a foreign language course exchange program. The universities also are partners in the Building Ohio’s Sustainable Energy Future initiative, a joint program that encourages students to pursue research careers in renewable energy and sustainable environmental practices.

Additionally, UT and BGSU are collaborating on the Regionally Aligned Priorities in Delivering Skills program, which allows universities to purchase state-of-the-art equipment for use in learning laboratories specific to regional workforce needs and then share these resources with other colleges and universities to help more students get a quality education more affordably. The universities also are focusing efforts on addressing the opioid crisis and Lake Erie water quality concerns.

Mulford Library on Health Science Campus will host a book launch Wednesday, May 23, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on the fourth floor of the library. Signed copies of the book will be available for purchase, and the authors will be present to speak with attendees.

Between 1893 and 1999, there were eight hospital-based diploma schools of nursing in Toledo: Flower Hospital School of Nursing, Maumee Valley Hospital School of Nursing, Mercy Hospital School of Nursing, Riverside Hospital School of Nursing, Robinwood/St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing, St. Vincent Hospital School of Nursing, Toledo Hospital School of Nursing, and Toledo State Hospital School of Nursing.

This core group of schools, operating for more than 100 years, sent registered nurses into the community to care for the sick and teach community members how to stay healthy. Graduates from these schools continue to provide care and comfort, and educate future nurses.

The authors, all hospital diploma school graduates, taught together as nursing faculty at the Toledo Hospital School of Nursing. Beach, Eisel, Nowicki and Szor are alumni of MCO/MUO/UT, where they received advanced degrees in nursing and education.

In the course of writing the book, the authors interviewed nearly 100 Toledo diploma school graduates. Their memories and stories are celebrated in the book, which also includes historical images and photographs.